


Desert Lights

by superboyfriends



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, much like night vale actually, so i guess it fits, spoilers to episode 25 by the way, woah writing for a new fandom is terrifying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superboyfriends/pseuds/superboyfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil's weather songs never made much sense to Carlos.</p>
<p>Until now.</p>
<p>(Or, what if Cecil's moods affected the weather)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Desert Lights

**Author's Note:**

> So I basically kinda diverged from the ending of episode 25. Hope I managed to get the characters and general creepiness factor of Night Vale right!

It took Carlos a while to notice.

It’s not like there isn’t enough stuff to notice about Night Vale. In fact, if Carlos didn’t allow himself at least 3 hours a day (or, well, at least something that feels like three hours, because time wasn’t actually a _thing_ in Night Vale) to not notice stuff, he would go crazy. Crazier, that is. He is pretty sure his sanity left the minute he passed the border of Night Vale.

Not that there is such a border. Actually, at this point Carlos isn’t actually sure about the existence of anything anymore. His machines keep telling him there is another closet in his bedroom, even though there clearly isn’t, and he keeps finding ambiguous messages from the Faceless Old Woman Who Lives In His house written on his fridge in word magnets (which he didn’t buy).

(And there is that matter of the house that shouldn’t exist but clearly does, but Carlos prefers not to think about it. These days, Carlos prefers not thinking about a lot of things. It’s probably healthier).

The thing is. The thing is, that Carlos does notice things about Cecil. He notices everything about Cecil.

Well, no, maybe that was a _bit_ exaggerated (Carlos didn’t even know how to exaggerate before he came to Night Vale – but one cannot simply describe Night Vale, and exaggeration isn’t excessive if it could actually happen). At first, Carlos dismissed Cecil entirely. Cecil was one of the first people he met in Night Vale, before he begun to even truly notice things – noticing outside of Night Vale and inside it are two very different things, after all.

After a couple of days (probably the strangest ones in Carlos’ _entire life_ ), out of nowhere, a radio appeared on his bedside table. It didn’t even have the courtesy to appear when Carlos’ wasn’t in the room – Carlos was just getting dressed up, more or less ready for another day of useless experiments that will only tell him things he already knows (that Night Vale is weird, impossible, indescribable – Carlos already knows it all. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t just leave, but he stays), when suddenly, a radio. One minute not there, the next it’s turned on and tuned to Cecil’s community news station.

Carlos is pretty sure Cecil’s radio voice should be illegal. It’s soft, and hypnotic, and terrifying – Carlos has never heard anything like it (Not that that’s anything new, Night Vale is the first of many things for him, but somehow, this is different. _Cecil_ is different). He just stood there, for who knows how long (that Carlos is young, and naïve. Past Carlos still thinks time has any meaning in Night Vale, past Carlos is so totally and completely wrong), one leg inside his pants, the other still naked, his heart beating in his chest like it never has before. And Carlos listens.

Of course that was when Cecil completely shuttered the illusion by totally gushing over Carlos, and what? What even…?

Suddenly the knowing looks he has been getting from random people on the street make a lot more sense.

Ever since then, he started to notice Cecil. At first, little things – how he can’t stop staring at Carlos’ hair sometimes, when he thinks Carlos doesn’t notice. How every time an intern dies (and, honestly? Cecil’s interns are probably the biggest mystery of Night Vale, one that Carlos has no intention of solving), Cecil gets a little bit more quite, a little more melancholy. How Cecil loves wearing bright, outrageous clothes outside of work, but whenever he is in the station he is the very picture of professionalism.

How he has a third eye.

How his tattoo moves, sometimes, when you don’t look at it directly.

How all of this has stopped mattering to Carlos a long time ago.

So things were going slowly (really slowly, to be honest, and it was entirely Carlos’ fault. He was new at this, okay? Not just the male thing – he hasn’t been in a relationship for ages, and the amount of relationships he was in can be counted on one hand), and it was great. Carlos would call Cecil in panic, sure that the world is going to end. Cecil would placate him by announcing the news on the radio, but would calm him down saying “silly Carlos, didn’t you hear the City Council postponed the apocalypse by two years? I announced it on the show last week! Or maybe it’s next week. Time is confusing”, which really shouldn’t help at all but somehow, does. And life would go on (and not, in fact, end, which is a great relief actually because Carlos really wanted to do some more experiments with the angels who live in Old Woman Josie’s house).

And then the miniature city that lies beneath the pin retrieval area of lane 5 in the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex happens.

And Carlos dies.

Only not really, the racist Russian/Indian guy does, instead, and Carlos would feel bad about it, really, he would, only… he was kind of a jerk. So.

When he leaves the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, it’s raining. Carlos is a bit miffed he doesn’t have an umbrella, but weather in Night Vale is unpredictable in the best of times, and Cecil’s forecast is really unreliable. Not to mention non-existent, no matter what Cecil says about those songs predicting the future. Weather in Night Vale was weird, like anything else in this crazy town, unstable and changing in the blink of an eye. You must always be prepared, either for insane heat and sandstorms and duplicates (and wow, hasn’t that been a weird day), or for rain and hail and thunder, or for pretty much anything in between.

Carlos has long ago stopped being bewildered over rain in the desert, but the current weather was a bit excessive. It poured, lighting and thunder mixing together, an impressive storm. Carlos has never seen anything like that, but he wouldn’t let it deter him. Out of his pockets he fished out his cellphone, thankfully undamaged, and called Cecil. Then, after leaving a short message, he quickly ran to his car, and drove off towards the Arby’s.

During the ride, the rain slowly stopped coming down, and when he parked his car in the Arby’s parking lot it stopped entirely, leaving the night sky clear of clouds and full of stars (and the strange, glittering lights above the Arby’s, that Carlos still hasn’t gotten around to testing. Night Vale is _exhausting_ ).

He didn’t have to wait long. Not even two minutes after he arrives, Cecil’s monster of a car (it was a purple jeep, probably 50 years old by the noises it was making – Carlos is still surprised it hasn’t broken down already) skidded around the corner, coming to stop near his own. Immediately afterwards Cecil stumbled down, bumbling and waving his hands around. Carlos could only smile a bit helplessly at him, a bit in love, entirely lost – to Cecil, to this town, to the void, who knows. Instead of talking he just grabbed Cecil’s hand and pulled him to his car, leaning against it and looking at the stars. Cecil stopped talking, staring at him for a while before looking at the sky as well. They were still holding hands.

“I’m glad you are alive”, whispered Cecil after a while, breaking the comfortable silence that stretched between them.

Carlos laughed a bit, “Me too”, and squeezed Cecil’s hand, smiling at him, “It would have been a real shame to die before taking you on a date, right?”

“This… A date?” gaped Cecil at him, all three of his eyes wide open.

“Well, no”, shrugged Carlos, but before Cecil could look completely crestfallen he added, “I would prefer to wear something that isn’t a lab coat drenched in blood for our first date”.

“But it suits you so well, Carlos!” Cecil hurried to say, looking at him worriedly, “Blood is a very good look for you! Not that you wouldn’t look good in anything else, that is. Anything is a really good look for you! You are really good! I mean, neat! Oh, no, I mean-“

Carlos decided he had waited enough. An entire year of waiting, actually, even if he didn’t know he was waiting for some of it. His recent brush with his own mortality, the completely weird and frankly dangerous nature of Night Vale, Cecil’s voice – all of this prompted him to close the gap between them, and he kissed Cecil, softly, gently. He could feel Cecil gasp quietly against his, no tongue (not yet), just chapped lips and soft pressure and amazing, incredible warmth. It was the single, most extraordinary thing in Carlos’ life, more so than anything he has ever seen or felt, in or outside of Night Vale. He slowly broke it off, the need for oxygen pressing, when something caught his eye.

A rainbow stretched across the sky.

“ _What_ ”.

“Huh?” muttered Cecil, still somewhat dazed, his eyes heavy lidded.

“Cecil, I know weather can be weird in Night Vale, but. A rainbow in the middle of the night is still scientifically impossible, so. What”.

“Huh?” it seemed like Cecil finally managed to shake it off, as he looked to the sky, “Oh! It’s because I’m happy”.

“Wh- How exactly would your mood change the laws of physics?”

At this Cecil had the grace to blush, “Actually, my… moods affect the weather? Like, if I’m upset, it’s rainy and we might even have a storm, and if I’m happy, well. You can see. Once we even had snow because I wanted a white Christmas! Granted, snow was banned from Night Vale after that holiday, but still! Neat, huh?”

Carlos thinks it would be for the best if he ignored most of what Cecil just said and focus on the important bits, “So… happy?”

Cecil smiled at him, and Carlos’ heart stopped beating for a second before resuming to beat so fast Carlos could almost believe it’s trying to make a break to the dog park, “Oh Carlos, beautiful Carlos, perfect Carlos, I have never been happier”.


End file.
